Saturday, 3 November 2012

Getting The Most Out Of iDSD

The hoodley what now? You'd have to be VERY new to digital scrapbooking not to know that iDSD is International Digital Scrapbooking Day. The first confusing thing about it is it seems to be more than a day. It's more of a 4 day thing from 1 - 4 November as different stores start at different times but TODAY is the big day.

There are a gazillion freebies and special offers BUT, make no mistake, this is a MARKETING event run by the digi stores and their aim is to sell you as much as possible. Your aim is to get as much free stuff as possible whilst getting some good deals on kits you've been lusting after.

First of all, DON'T PANIC. Brits - feel free to shout that several times in a Corporal Jones voice.

FREEBIES

We have that covered. Join the Digi Scrapping Freebies group on Facebook and you'll find links to all the cool stuff and a list of blog trains and Facebook hops (in the File section). It's useful to know the links are there so you haven't got to rush round frantically finding and saving them. Of course, if you do find one we haven't got please post it!

The most important tip about Freebies is don't download stuff just you don't want or need just because it's free. There lies madness.

There are more detailed tips on how to save time, work efficiently and get a ton of stuff on our main site HERE.

BLOG/FACEBOOK HOPS

We have thirteen of these - at the last count - on Digi Scrapping Freebies so you don't have to go chasing around the web.Yikes! Thirteen!! The article on the link above has lots of tips on blog hops.

Start with the My Memories one because you add the freebies to your account and can download them later which saves you a ton of stress. You don't need to have My Memories software to use the freebies. Just download the "general" files. as everyone knows, though. I use My Memories all the time and have made thousands - really - layouts easily. Go HERE for a good deal on MyMemories and access to our private tutorial group.

GOOD DEALS (???)

I regard at least 40% off as a good deal and tend to ignore the rest BUT lots of stores do deals at other times of the year so don't stress over it. Just make you sure really need (OK, want ...) the kits before exercising credit card.

There will be coupons - Some will come in the kits you download and some will come in emails. Save them in separate folders for later.

CHECK YOUR STASH

Designers tend to move about a lot from store to store or one store takes over another one. When the designer is new to the store their kits will be in the new products section. This is fair enough but they might not be new to you. It's really annoying to buy something you already have! That is definitely not a good deal. I file all my kits twice on two separate external hard drives - once under themes and once under designer names. There will be more tips on this in an article shortly. However you do it try to make sure you haven't already got the kit. If it looks familiar to your there might be a reason for that!

UNZIP AND TIDY UP

If you download stuff all day then you're faced with a mammoth unzipping task guess what will happen? You'll get fed up and delete the lot. That's what I did one year when I got to August and realised I hadn't unzipped stuff from the May NSD. As you're unzipping, if you don't like it or you're not going to use then delete it! There is no point in clogging up your computer.

TAKE A BREAK

Sick of people trying to part you and your cash? Take a break in the Digi Scrapping Tips group on Facebook. It's a completely advertising-free zone where you can show your layouts, get help, join in challenges etc. We have a weekly challenge every Monday and a daily word challenge. Plus chat of course. And absolutely no ads!